The same Russia that's helping Iran with their nuclear plans, yet, Negroponte doesn't want to 'EMBARRASS' them.
This reminds me of a post several weeks back concerning Russia assisting Iraq (Saddam) remove WMD's.
Now Russia is playing nice with Hamas and Iran.
Not to mention Putin is a KGB guy who pines for the days of old.
I'm skeptical of Russia these days. Wouldn't be surprised if China got into the act somehow, in an effort to shore up communism in a country struggling with capitalism...
Negroponte has been an anti-commie hero for years working in the Nixon, Reagan and Bush administration. To claim that Negroponte doesn't want to embarrass the Russians is to show a lack of knowledge in Negroponte's long anti-left record.